24 Tevet, 5763
Jerusalem

From New York to Jerusalem:
Delegation of USA Specialists in Former Soviet Union Immigrant Affairs will Arrive in Israel on Jewish Agency Seminar Tour

The first fruits of the three-way "Partnership 2000" Jerusalem-New York-Moscow partnership

A group of some 20 professionals from New York Jewish Community Centers (JCCs) who deal with education and social work among Russian immigrants, will arrive in Israel tomorrow (30 December) in the context of a Jewish Agency specialized seminar. Delegation members will learn about Jewish Agency educational activities in Israel, will develop professional relations with their Israeli colleagues in Jerusalem community centers (Matnassim). They will likewise take part in excursions and fieldtrips in Israel.

Among others, the participants in this project will visit Tel Aviv's Shevax Mofet High School (many of whose students are immigrants from the Former Soviet Union), the University of Haifa, the Technion, the Israel Association of Community Centers and the Kibbutz Movement. They will likewise meet with new-immigrant soldiers and students from the Former Soviet Union who had come in Israel in the context of the Jewish Agency's Sela pre-University program.

The American delegation is made up of youth counselors and instructors, directors and administrative staff of the Kings Bay YM-YWHA, the Edith and Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst and Central Queens Y. Jewish Agency special representative for relations with the Russian émigré community in the USA, Mr. Roni Vinikov is accompanying the delegation from New York.

Prior to their arrival in Israel, the American delegation, joined by their Jerusalem colleagues, will have spent four days in Moscow, where they will have familiarized themselves with Jewish Agency youth activities and established contacts with Russian colleagues working in Jewish youth clubs and social organizations in Russia.

This project is the first instance, of the fruits of a three-way partnership between specialists working with Russian-speaking Jews in New York, Moscow and Jerusalem, for the exchange of professional experience and knowledge and the forging of collegial relations. Their cooperation was made possible thanks to the Jewish Agency's "Partnership 2000" which linked professionals from the Joint Program for Jewish Education, the UJA-Federation of New York, and the Association of Jewish Community Centers of North America.

For additional information contact
the Office of the Spokesman:
Yehuda Weinraub
Liaison to Foreign Press and Media
Jewish Agency for Israel
Mobile:972-53-927017
Fax: 972-2-6204013